Healthcare speech

I woke at 4AM to watch the speech. Well done, Mr. President. He gave all the elements I wanted: No pre-existing conditions, catastrophic care (McCain idea '08, Kerry idea '04), and competition (though not quite a public option). He included something I wasn't expecting: Mandated coverage. The only way insurance works is if everyone pays in. Right now millions of 20-somethings are rolling the dice without coverage. It's a smart gamble. They probably won't need insurance and if something really bad happens they'll end up on the public health insurance. Forcing them to buy at least a catastrophic plan is good idea.

I think the Republican outbursts made them look small. Given what they've gotten away with for the past month I'm not surprised they overplayed their hand.

If you're lucky, they'll graduate

I was surprised to learn that some universities have less than a 40% graduation rate. Who would send their kid to a place where they have less than a 50% chance of graduating?

I was also surprised that the U of Iowa has only a 66% graduation rate. I was about to gloat and boast of the virtues of a private liberal arts education... but then I saw that my alma mater Coe has a graduation rate of 67%.

Doh!

People working in any profession see signs that worry them. In higher education I see the move to online classes, much larger class sizes and skyrocketing tuition as storm clouds gathering. Fortunately - for those of us in higher education - the health care system is so fucked up nobody is noticing us.

The loonies

I spent way too much time yesterday watching cable news. I heard that parents were right to keep their kids from watching Obama's speech because the president is too charismatic. For which the anchor replied, "Really? It would have been ok to watch if he wasn't as charismatic?" Yes, the guest replied, because in the future Obama may ask them to support something against their parents' wishes and children (with no critical thinking skills) will blindly follow Obama.

I can think of a group with no critical thinking skills, but it's not children.

The best part of the day? Dr. Nancy Snyderman on MSNBC. She had a guest who opposed the president's speech because he asked students to set goals and work to achieve them. Snyderman asked, "What's wrong with setting goals?" It's unconstitutional was the reply.

Dr. Nancy cut him off and never came back to him. I was cheering from the couch.

Qnexa

Viagra and Lipitor are well known drugs. Soon (hopefully very soon) they'll have to make way for a new blockbuster: Qnexa.

Qnexa is a weight loss drug helping those who took it to lose 15% or 37 pounds. It lowered cholesterol and blood pressure and raised HDL (the good cholesterol).

Wow.

That sounds so much better than the food poisoning diet plan.

I'm researching a gift for YOU, honey!

From the guys at Desparadise... A very *interactive* website selling bras.

Embarrased? Never.

I just watched Obama's speech to children. It was a standard "stay in school and study" speech. Well delivered. I appreciate the President telling students that they are not likely to be a rapper, pro-athlete, or even reality TV star. And that coming from a broken home is not an excuse.

You'd think the nut-wing of the right would be embarrassed by their uproar against this speech.

Nah... It turns out that Obama planned to indoctrinate students and only rewrote the speech once it gained attention.

Oh... that explains it.

Headline I want to see

President prepares for Congressional speech by first talking to children

Pawlenty for President

Any politician pushing bacon flavored lip balm on national TV deserves a second look.

Sandy (our resident Minnesota commenter) will soon explain why he's a disaster of a governor… but l'll still love the idea of the sweet taste of bacon on the lips all day long.

Longest summer

Memorial Day on May 25 was the earliest it can be.

Labor Day on September 7 was the latest it can be.

Summer 2009 was 12 days longer than it will be for 2010.

I hope you used your extra two weeks wisely.

Cross dressing crime wave

Sometimes headlines write themselves.

This nation banned men from selling women's clothes. The result? Men dressed as women became thieves who dash off with clothes.

President's speech on healthcare

The president's decision to address congress is a good one: It will redirect focus from the ridiculous "death panels" and "socialism" cries of the right.

I am sure he will emphasize three goals:

1. Universal access with no preconditions and premiums that are affordable.
2. No lifetime limits that lead those chronic conditions to declare bankruptcy once the cap's been reached.
3. The chance for people to buy insurance from the government if they choose. That's the so-called "public option."

To get to universal coverage there will also have to be some form of mandate for employers and citizens.

In the end (if we're lucky) the final bill will have points one and two. I don't have much hope for the third. My side really blew it in explaining the public option. I'd love to be able to buy my parent's medicare. Instead in Iowa I'm basically stuck with a couple of big companies - none as good as medicare.

Psst, here's the story the Russians can't read

Imagine a government lying to its people as a prelude to war. Oops. We already have seen that.

Imagine a government bombing its people as a prelude to war. Two years after Chechens signed a peace agreement with Russia they mysteriously started bombing Russia. A new article in GQ makes a persuasive case that it was the new version of the Russian KGB that was responsible. Vladimr Putin, the new prime minister, saw value in whipping up nationalism in his country that it was worth it to bomb his own citizens and blame it on the Chechens.

Now GQ's publisher is so scared of Russian backlash that they are not allowing it to be published on the website and are not allowing any press on the story of any kind.

The only way I could read the story was from scanned pictures of the actual article.

Just go away

While I'm much better, it's day eight and the food poisoning effects won't leave me. I learned that my thyroid medicine kept the antibiotics from working early on. I stopped taking it and hoped that the Cipro would do the job. Let's just say there's work to be done.

This experience has left me completely weak and constantly tired (no doubt helped along by not taking the thyroid medicine).

14 pounds!!!

After pigging out in Iowa for three weeks I arrived back at all-time high of 230 pounds. None of my clothes fit right.

Today I weigh 216. Maybe I should try this food poisoning thing more often...

Flooding

My friend Sam sent these pictures of his hometown Shellsburg:

I wonder if the rates for flood insurance have dramatically increased in Iowa. It would be reasonable...

Victory!

Iowa Republicans plan to use gay marriage as a major issue in the 2010 elections. They rolled out the strategy in a special election held in SE Iowa this week. The National Organization for Marriage dumped $86,060 trying to support the Republican candidate.

Over $86 grand!?! That's an unbelievable sum for one group to spend.

It was a decent bet on the part of the Republicans. Rural voters tend to poll much more homophobic than suburban or urban voters. The great news is that the strategy failed. As a guy from rural Iowa I believe they failed to understand rural conservatism. Sure, they're not as likely to support gay marriage - or anything else that constitutes change. Conservatism in rural Iowa is a libertarian conservatism: You live your life, I'll live my life and I'll drive slow so I can see if you planted your rows straight.

The final vote tally was close: Hanson (D) 3932 vs. 3825 Burgmeier (R).

John Deeth has a great summary of the winners and losers (beyond the candidates) in this race. Hint: National Organization for Marriage is one of the losers.

Update:  Here’s the ad the National Organization for Marriage spent $86,060 on…

After seeing the ad I’m thinking the Democrat may have won because he looks a little less creepy.

Rainy August

Click on the graph above and you'll see that if CR didn't a drop of rain for the next four months they'd still exceed a normal year. Also the temp chart at the top is interesting: Only one day in July and August exceeded the normal high (the normal zone is the light green in the top graph... the jagged blue lines are the actual highs and lows).

And you'll appreciate this: Yesterday Al Ain hit some new record high for the month of September. I don't know the exact temp but I'm sure it was in the ballpark of 120.

Stupidity 101

Occidental College is offering a new course called "Stupidity."

I have many questions: What's it mean to be asked to teach the class? What's it mean to get an A? Can you go home and tell Mom & Dad with pride, "I'm a genius at stupid!"?

I see great value in this class...

Weekend remainders

Since I canceled classes for tomorrow my weekend starts early...

First up: There's a joke that the lottery is a tax on those poor at math. Now there's a lottery system that lets you invest money with a chance to win the lottery but you don't lose your investment. How do they do it? Pay a low rate of interest on the "savings."

Old and cranky: The elderly are the major beneficiaries of government run healthcare yet they are the least likely to support government spending for others. Even for children.

I like this idea: Cash for refrigerators. The next government spending programs are going to encourage you to mothball that old inefficient refrigerator/washing machine/dryer in favor of a new, more energy efficient one. There's no requirements to qualify like cash-for-clunkers. Finally, I'll get to replace my refrigerator that sounds like a dying cow.

Is your kid going to college? Convince him/her to major in engineering. Nine of the top ten paying majors are some form of engineering.

No surprise: With commodity prices less than half what they were a year ago, farmers are being hit exceptionally hard by this recession.


And finally, here are the nine stupidest products of all time. It's clearly an incomplete list because Ronco is not on it...

Hot flashes

Menopause is a bitch.  A quick update on the gastrointestinal front:  I got Cipro and I hope it will work.  I canceled classes for tomorrow and I’m going to sleep in.  I have definitely developed a fever, but it’s very odd.  It’s alternating between being teeth-chattering cold to developing a flop sweat.  And back and forth.